So... @lv80 with 885 spell haste which reduces GCD to 1 second VT becomes: 1 sec castMS becomes: 3.3333 sec channledMeaning you debuff up to 11 targets with VT and MS the last target and still have .6secs afterwards to pop Dispersion becasue you, my friend, have just pulled aggro :P

Comment by rethP

The jump from 70-80 is not going to change things that much as 60-70 did but consider the +shadow damage and a bit of mana return if you VT a cuple of targets in the area.

Btw, I have to assume that I'm not the only one annoyed by the extreme mana cost for this spell. Hopefully it'll be reduced before launch.

Comment by Delamos

This skill will cost about 2.1k mana after focused mind at lvl 3

Comment by DSitC

You have to realize, that this is an AE that is both mobile and does not require you to move with it.

This produces quite an unique and usefull spell. Blizzard and other similar handles AEs don't always hit their targets for the full duration because they move. Arcane Explosion will do that trick (if you move, that is) but puts you into the fray.

Comment by PriestessAv

Bear in mind that Shadow Focus and Focused Mind will reduce the mana cost by 21%, so the mana cost as of this incarnation of the spell will be more like 2200 at 80. Mana regeneration and maximum mana will have appropriately scaled up.

Indeed, it is good that the mana cost is so high -- that means it's balanced to perform its function as an AOE instead of being tuned to do the same to one target as it does to many. Thus, Mind Flay is not obviated, and it is more prudent to use AOE spells when appropriate, as opposed to all the time.

So, assume Mind Sear will be doing ~900 damage a tick (It is not uncommon in BC for Mind Flay to do 6x the tooltip's damage) and you've got VT on 5 different mobs. One Mind Sear on those 5 mobs returns approximately 400 mana. You may see that the mana cost is not so outrageous -- it's just a way to ensure that AOE remains AOE.

Comment by brolife

Heres one thing u may not of thought of with mind sear which makes mind sear so much more impressive.

Inner focus + mind sear.

Yes your ticks will have about 50% chance to crit, yes its free mana cost.

I hope that realisation makes the rest of us SP's feel a little better with us not getting much love from Blizz :) It made me smile :)

note: The mana cost from level 80 was taken from beta on Nov 4/2008 on classes with zero spent talent points, zero buffs and zero equipped items for sexy reasons. Also note that Mind Sear requires you to select an enemy target to cast it. It also hits all enemies except your selected target that you cast it on. These basic stats are just assuming the casters are hitting one target with the AoE, which the priest would need two enemies to accomplish. So the dmg/mana and dmg/sec for other AoE's can be multiplied by the number of enemies (Blizzard, 5 targets, 1.409 dmg/mana x 5 = 7.045 dmg/mana), you have to minus 1 from the number of targets for Mind Sear before multiplying (Mind Sear, 5 targets, 0.9806-1.055 dmg/mana x (5 -1) = 3.922-4.220 dmg/mana).

Comment by Kuja

scary icon

Comment by Natarumah

By the looks of the wording of the spell, isn't it so that it places a debuff on the target, which damages surrounding mobs?

It seems a bit like the Arcane Protectors on the way to Curator in Karazhan, which cause a member in your raid to become a living bomb.

If so, it could be that the damage is not counted as "dealt by you", which would make it ignore VE/VT. From what I read up on shadowpriest.com, VE works on targets being damaged by it, but VT does not. So, no mana back for us.Current SP beta-testers flagged this as a bug, but I think it is intended.

Also, if I could cast it on my pally tank and cause a shadowy inferno of death around her, I would be happy. Right now it is only useful to AoE down everything around a single sheep/shackle target. Else the unaffected mob simply runs up to you and kills you. Since Mind Sear does not have a snare component, I can see that happening anyway. (Just check youtube for the mind sear video with the penguins, that's what it will be like).

In short:

* No mana back;* One target unaffected;* No snare component;* Expensive to cast for its damage even with bigger manapools and cost reductions;* At least useful with IF and able to crit.

Situationally useful, but not something to be praising the Light for.

Comment by sinaraine

now imagine what impact Vampiric Embrace and Vampriric Touch would have on this, if used on a group of mobs (like the dragonhawks in ZA, or trash mobs before moroes in Khara)

(a sudden burst of mana regen)

Comment by Pogmahon

How practical will it be to get VE up on all the mobs that need AOE?

First of all most a AOE mobs do not have that much health. They die quickly.

VE is a 1.5 second cast. So if you are talking 5 mobs it will be 7.5 seconds, then you cast Mind Sear which takes 5 seconds of channeling.

12.5 seconds to get the full damage. That is basically an eternity for aoe encounters. One mage or lock will have them down way before VE can provide the insane mana regen.

Comment by Aldones

Best type of spell they could have given spriests...we'll finally have an aoe.

Comment by evangelistjfox

"In addition to this change, we also needed to address the "mana battery" roles in a raid. The mana regeneration effect they grant is no longer limited to their own party, and it no longer depends on the amount of damage they deal. Each time they trigger the mana regeneration effect, 10 people in their raid group will receive a buff which causes them to regenerate 0.5% of their maximum mana each second. This buff, Replenishment, will be given preferentially to raid members with the lowest mana, but will re-evaluate which raid members receive it each time it is fired. Replenishment is provided by Shadow Priests, Survival Hunters, and Retribution Paladins."

Comment by Joetest

You won't get any mana from applying VT to multiple targets then simply Mind Searing them all, Replenish is triggered from Mind Blast 'only'.

It's then more practical to just Mind Sear or at most apply Shadow Word: Pain to the mobs to buffer threat time, assuming threat is an issue at all.

Comment by ItachiShin

Im surprised no1 said this before...Reading the description i can assume this will be one of the most powerful aoes in game (i dont play the beta so i cant confirm)... Sum1 posted before comparing DPS on other aoes but thats just playing wrong...It seems like you can apply this to multiple targets at a time, so applying this on 5 mobs on an aoe pull would def be a HUGE aoe dps (just like, or even better than lock's seed), and then you can use dispersion right after it for safety... (tanks prolly wont have that much problem with aoe agro anymore, but oh well)

Comment by sbh1

night elf icon lolz there are no night elf shadowpriests i guess that icon is a victim of mind sear not casting it

Comment by druidsareop

This is supposed to let SP to actually do some damage... nice but not really gonna make SP much better

Comment by Mecantar

I always dreamed of having a night elf head as a spell icon.

Comment by Azarial

Hmm, could someone enlighten me as to whether or not mind sear actually damages your target, or just those around. Thanks.

Comment by Dispear

Just me or is the mana cost on this spell a little high? It kinda cost around 2k mana...

Comment by trademen

*sigh* While it is nice to have at least one aoe...the mana cost makes it absolutly useless. The only possible situation where this would be useful would be...when you have a ton of mana and about 20 normal mobs around you...as long as you have a tank, cause in real life if you have enough mobs on you for this spell to be worth it your pw:s should not last long enough to get it off in full.

Comment by qazwsxijn

After some testing on the target dummies, it seems that:

Each tick on any target will stack Shadow Weaving

Each tick on any target can proc Blackout

Comment by Cecyll

Each tick is also capable of a critical effect, making the spell useful for Holy DPS priests as it can proc Surge of Light.

Comment by sildani

This spell is simply lovely.

While soloing this spell is excellent for grinding. Cast PW:S, quickly mount up and grab a ton of mobs a few levels below you (similar to Mage Blizzard AOE tactic) then load a target with all our DoTs (VT/DP/SW:P), cast VE for health, cast MB to get Replenishment and then cast Mind Sear (instead of Mind Flay, persumably); once your target dies, repeat with the next (your cooldowns should be up). PW:S + GH to bring yourself back up if necessary. Use Dispersion if you get in a bind. Took a little practice, but at 75, I was able to grind out Level 72 mobs in Dragonblight this way effectively, yielding the highest XP/hour thus far for me, drinking after every couple mass pulls.

Comment by zaelers

The only thing I think it's missing is being added to the 100% Crit damage talent.

Comment by gazom

some tips about this spell.....1-it will not harm the target,only the creatures near him.

2-it will NOT break the shadow form.

3-it benefits from some shadow talents ex:Darkness

4-this spell CAN crit.

5-this spell will process shadow weaving talent.

correct me if am wrong.. :D

Comment by cosmoose

Sorry, but how lame is it that it doesn't affect the target? This should be like 100% of mind flay damage on target and 50% (or some other percentage) to those in a 10 yard radius around the target. Or maybe on a decreasing scale, 75% to those within 3 yards, 50% to those within 5 yards and 25% to those within 10 yards. Just my .02

EDIT: This spell would be great if you could target friendly players like the tank, since this does not affect the target.

Comment by angelest

very useful in those boss fights where adds come and only one is an golden. the nerub gate keeper fight where he calls the little bugs tar him and adds down when they get to you. in the zul drak instance where you fight the frost summoner guy and mobs pour down the steps wait for the golden one and slap this on him

u gain no threat on him and the mobs coming down the stairs die as well because it moves with the monster unlike any other aoe spell. can even be used in small confines where you fear and they run in that small space like i said

it moves with your target so thats cool.

Comment by danton83

This spell also works well in pvp not to many people know what it is yet and when they see they're targeted they run to their healer or usually in a group with others. This is a fun nasty little spell with spell haste!

Comment by Zeros

You should only use this spell if there are more than 3 mobs.

- The mob targeted does not take damage from the spell.

- If there are only 2 mobs you are better off using mindflay instead (as only 1 mob will take dmg and for an amount less then mindflay for over double the mana)

Comment by Tsaar

Mind sear helps the spriest in a few key ways, but there is a trick to AOE grinding on the priest and mind sear is a new component of it, but its damage being much less than blizzard gives you better results if you do the following.

1. Shield up, buff and get ready for the pull.2. Immediately dot pain on everything you see. Kite back.3. On your +final+ target dot VE, VT, Devouring plauge and pain4. At this point, bring your shield back up. Fire MB into your last mob5. Now, fire mind sear into your last mob. 6. Cycle back around with mindflay on your group to refresh pain if you can7. Fire off mind sear again.

To extend the number of mobs you can take, dot VE when you can or use devouring plague (it will heal you for 15% of the damage it causes). However, the key to grinding effectively as an Spriest is to realize that Pain is an instant-cast spell yielding 768 damage over 18 seconds, or 43 damage per sec. so when you fire off mindsear with the pain dot progressing, you will hit 230 damage per second on ea. mob. Haste helps you to get your dots out there on everyone very quickly and its an art form to hit everyone again with mindflay but if you do it this way, you'll match the results of Mage AOE grinding.

Hope it helps!

Comment by fonzey

Does this spell cause anyone else's framerate to fall through the floor?

I play a rogue, and in any of our raids that have a shadowpriest casting this while I'm stood in melee range just drops my framerate from about 50 to 2....

It's the only spell in the game which does this, and I'd hate to have to drop my spell detail settings everytime I raid with a spriest :grrr:

Comment by fitzdraco

The fact that the spell does not hurt the target makes it somewhat unique amongst aoe spells. We can use it around a cc mob as long as we target that mob. Everything around it dies while we have the joy of not hurting it.

Comment by c4tuna

does anyone know the threat mechanics for this spell? i often notice when i'm casting it in a large group that the target i'm casting on will aggro onto me before any of the targets actually taking damage. is there some spash to the threat?

Comment by Mairin

One semi-interesting use I've found for this is in Wintergrasp when attacking the fortress and the opposition has a notable number of people LoSing behind the turret platforms since casting this on the gun instead frequently hits almost all of them. Even when the guns are down, enemy players still try and snipe from the platforms and if you can get a lock on one of them (or even a pet that they unintentionally left exposed) with MS it's "beam weapon" mechanic means when they retreat back into the pack you're still hitting them all through the wall.

Comment by Regigo

What about the all-so-useless Holy Nova?

Comment by Draylius

Okay, so it doesn't do damage to the target, but if you don't have a target, does it become a true AoE spell? Or does it require a target?

Comment by Sandeer

This is great when certain bosses summon adds or adds come when you're fighting a boss. Mind Sear does a nice amount of damage so killing adds with it shouldn't be too hard. Watch out for your threat though. Too bad it can't be used on friendly targets, then you could use it on the tank in instances.

Comment by Sandeer

Blackout was removed as of patch 3.1

Comment by PriestessAv

Start a duel with a party member and spam Mind Sear on them as he or she runs around. That way, all the real enemies get hit, and the party member essentially becomes a moving, controllable AOE, even through walls.

Comment by Lantana

Volley doesn't. Volley is the best DPM AoE.

Comment by Fungalsporebat

this looks perfect for dungons/raids but the 1st place i though of when i notieced it was a AOE...lol... was VH simple put it on the target eeryone in attacking and therefore u do about 1k damage to all the guys around the one that will die nomater what ...am i wrong

Comment by Cloudchaser

The first time I saw this ability used, I immediately dubbed it "Shadow$%^&."

Comment by Cloudchaser

When I first saw this spell used, I quickly dubbed it "Shadowpee."

(actually, I called it something else, but Wowhead's language filter censors out the word that would rhyme with "shadowhiss")

Comment by coderj

Mind Sear is a great spell for grinding as well as trash in Heroic dungeons (as well as mid-road WotLK runs).

For grinding, do like the mages do; get on your ground mount and round up a lot of mobs. Pick the contestant with the most HP and pop DoTs (VT/DP/SW:P), pop PW:S, and then sear away. Excellent for grinding out pre-WotLK rep or for farming areas for massive return in gold on the AH.

For dungeon/heroic/raids, this spell is a godsend. Simply wait for the tank to grab his/her aggro, then DoT up your target. MB the target (Replenishment for the win) then sear away. Between dps from other group members, refreshing replenishment, and the sear a decent sized pull can be wiped from creation within about a minute. Just make sure to Fade when possible as threat generation is insane.... even with Shadow Affinity. It's possible between all of this to even top that pesky warlock on the Recount meter ;).

Couple of caveats I've noticed (and mistakes I've seen others make).... first off, Mind Sear does not work with VE (read the text, VE only works for single target shadow damage... multiple SW:P casts will work, but Mind Sear is definitely out). Second is, and this is important, let the tank finish aggro pull before starting this chain! I watched a heroic run wipe early because the other shadow priest decided to start early... and managed to pull 10 mobs in addition to the first 3 the tank had; not a good tactic so be in the habit of being patient. Also, watch the cc; if the mage sheeps or roots a mob, that's the sear center... don't DoT just sear; you're asking for a kick if you keep breaking the cc (especially since the cc'd mob is probably a fear/mc casting one).

Comment by Erebor

"28% of base mana 30 yd rangeInstant cast"Many of you talk about chanelled, but i can't see it mentioned here.

Or has Blizz changed it?And does this mean you can have it on many targets at the same time, like living bomb?

Comment by Sumona

Not sure you can duel a party member inside instances or raids..

"You aren't allowed to duel here"

It would be funny if that was implemented all because of this spell. xD

But if it's outside raids and such, like Argent Tournament Dailies, it would work perfect!

Comment by tonydizzle

4.0.6 PTR Patch notes:

Mind Sear: Causes an explosion of shadow magic around the enemy target, causing 91146 to 97158 Shadow damage every 1 sec for 5 sec to all enemies within 10 yards around the target.

Does this mean you will finally be able to target the tank and have it deal AoE damage to everything? Even if not it is getting a 50% damage buff. Suweet!

Comment by midnightstar

From the 4.0.6 patch notes:"Mind Sear can now be channeled on friendly targets in addition to enemy targets. In addition, Mind Sear's damage has been increased by roughly 15%."So now you can just throw it on the tank.

Why a downrate on facts? Do not understand.

Comment by amputated

Just thought it'd be good to mention the following, since its not been said here yet:

Because it is coded as a 'damage over time' effect (like Mind Flay), Mind Sear's damage is boosted by both Empowered Shadows (our Mastery's secondary benefit) as well as Evangelism. This can potentially boost MS's damage by 20% or more, and it scales with Mastery.

This doesn't make MS awesome however. If anything, you need both ES and 5 x Evangelism active in order for MS's damage to be barely comparable to the AOE of other classes. And with ES and Evangelism lasting only 15 and 20 seconds respectively, keeping both up when you need to chain-cast MS will be quite a chore.

Recommend putting SW:Pain on several targets early to keep orbs proccing while you're chain casting MS. A quick MB/MS and a tick of mindflay should refresh both ES and Evangelism. Still very troublesome though.

Comment by Optimystic

As of 4.06, you can now target friendlies with this:

"Mind Sear can now be channeled on friendly targets in addition to enemy targets. In addition, Mind Sear's damage has been increased by roughly 15%."

So instead of targeting the sheep, target the tank and nuke everything clustered around him. Great buff!

Can anyone confirm whether you can target yourself to AoE farm? (With SF and Bubble up of course)

Comment by bogues

Cast shadowfiendTarget fiendMind searProfit

Comment by aggixx

As of current 4.1 PTR notes, Mind Sear damage has been doubled, on top of the 15% increase that was included in 4.0.6:

Mind Sear damage has been doubled.

Comment by Sacrosterion

It says it's a periodically trigger spell. Would that mean, just like single-target periodic spells, it will have no limit of targets till it starts decreasing damage? (10 i think) And does that also mean that it will trigger the heal from vampiric embrace?

Comment by DrKazza

I just tested mindsear's increased damage on the 4.1 patch... something new (bug?) is that when cast on a hostile mob, mind sear WILL damage that mob. It never used to, so you AoE a whole pack without having to unleash some DP/SWD on the last mob.

As I said, this isn't mentioned in the patch notes so it could be a bug that gets hotfixed.

I've not tried it on a friendly mob (i.e. casting on the tank) but I doubt it would damage the mob

Comment by Vaugn

Interesting. As of 4.1, Mind Sear is now damaging its own (enemy) target as well as all enemies around it.

They have also fixed the bug in which you can target yourself with mind sear, which gave you the buff but did not channel and did not do any damage to nearby enemies. You can no longer cast mind sear on yourself (bummer).

Comment by neeso984

This was a very needed upgrade, our AoE output with this ability was pretty low.

IMO I still feel that it needs a little more work, but currently you can target an ally player and cast it so the AoE effect is radiating from him/her. Very cool but I feel that since it is our only source of AoE it should be more fine tuned as a true AoE.

Comment by Foetsjie

Can be cast on party members, so for PvE you can cast it on the tank if you want to do dmg to all targets.

Comment by Bantas

Can also be cast on Vargoth, should you need an anchor in a sticky situation.

Comment by Odaxis

Tank Macro for scrub Shadow Priests who don't know how to use the ability.

Change the "PARTY" to either "SAY" or "RAID" if needed.

Comment by Toldry

I think this ability should be useable on allies (It wont damage your target, only the enemies near him)

Comment by Iroared

Apparently this has a level requirement when used on friendly targets. I just randomly tried to mind sear an npc 20 levels below me, and was told "Target is too low level". Pretty unusal for an offensive spell >.>

Comment by Beace

This spell is pure awesomeness for leveling. When I can, I dot up 3-6 enemies nearby, wait for them to reach me, shield myself, and then do mind sear. This kills stuff so much faster than normal multi-dotting.

If the shield runs out and you're getting worried about dmg taken, use dispersion while waiting for shield cd to come up again.

Comment by nedforge

Random technical stuffs:

1) Mind Sear is affected by Empowered Shadow, but not by Evangelism.2) Possibly a bug: If cast on allies, it won't activate any of random trinket effects no matter how much enemies you've damaged with it.

Comment by denar

Very useful macros for use Mind Sear /cast Mind SearButton allows spamming magic Mind Sear and not afraid to interrupt the cast. As a result, you save mana and simplify your game :)

Comment by NetBlaise

why the hell is this only aoe so high lvl? what the hell.. We should get this in our 30's to 40's.. We have no AOE ability....while we lvl from 1-74... damn... Runing Dungeons sucks as a Priest....You use so much mana just trying to put dots on all the mobs...OMG so much mana.. But then we get a aoe at lvl 74 that only use's such a lil bit of mana...wow...

Comment by Monthy

Why is there no reaction from you priests on the slaughter of our spell Mind Sear.

We have now entered WoD and I am shocked on how much Blizzard has nerfed Mind Sear.Before this was one of the most powerful and awsome aoe's in a raid. Good for all and madethe priest very valuable. At the end of all dungeons and raids all could read in recount howwell the shadowpriest had done on the dmg. Always in top of the group.

Now since the start of WoD it's all over for the priest. The hard truth is that without the aoe (mind sear),the priest can't pull he's weight as a dps'er.It must be around 80% of the effect that is taken away. We have about 20% left.I have never been so ashamed as I now is in WoD's dungeons and raids.Fact is that the priest is now the given last in the dps overall recount of all dungeons and raids!

The Mind Sear HAVE NO EFFECT AT ALL. You might aswell spit on the screen whenthe raid needs some aoe-action done. That is as effectful as using Mind Sear.

My priest is my main char and I normally love almost all about him, but now there is no chance that I will continue playing with him if Blizzard does'nt fix the AOE.

ALL PRIESTS MAKE YOUR VOICES HEARD TO BLIZZARD AND DEMAND OUR Mind Sear BACK!If you enjoy dungeons and raids, YOU MUST SCREEM AT THEM RELENTLESSLY UNTIL THEY RESPOND!

Comment by MasterCalimero

As of 6.0.x, I can confirm you that Mind Sear is past.But dont worry guys because you can now replace it by (link error). Awesome isnt it ?

Lets read Blizzard explanation in patch note 6.0.2 <3

Shadow Priests had one large problem toward the end of Mists of Pandaria: single-target damage. Their AoE and multi-DoT damage was some of the best around, so they still ended up competitive on most fights. But, in any fight that was mostly single-target, they felt lacking. Additionally, one of the new stats we're adding in Warlords of Draenor, Multistrike, is almost exactly what their current Mastery, Shadowy Recall, does for DoTs. So, we took these two problems and came up with a change that we think will solve both of them. The result is a new Mastery, which primarily increases single-target damage. Shadow Priests who want to focus on single-target damage can aim for Mastery in their gearing; or, when multi- dotting is more valuable, prefer other secondary stats over Mastery.

Forget your SPriest and go level up some pets because if you want to get the "OMGIDEALSOMUCHDAMAGEAHAHAHAHAHAHA" feeling, pets will be more effective.

Comment by MasterCalimero

As of 6.0.x, I can confirm you that Mind Sear is past.But dont worry guys because you can now replace it by (link error). Awesome isnt it ?

Lets read Blizzard explanation in patch note 6.0.2 <3

Shadow Priests had one large problem toward the end of Mists of Pandaria: single-target damage. Their AoE and multi-DoT damage was some of the best around, so they still ended up competitive on most fights. But, in any fight that was mostly single-target, they felt lacking. Additionally, one of the new stats we're adding in Warlords of Draenor, Multistrike, is almost exactly what their current Mastery, Shadowy Recall, does for DoTs. So, we took these two problems and came up with a change that we think will solve both of them. The result is a new Mastery, which primarily increases single-target damage. Shadow Priests who want to focus on single-target damage can aim for Mastery in their gearing; or, when multi- dotting is more valuable, prefer other secondary stats over Mastery.

Forget your SPriest and go level up some pets because if you want to get the "OMGIDEALSOMUCHDAMAGEAHAHAHAHAHAHA" feeling, pets will be more effective.

Comment by bastcreature

3 days ago I was using Mind Sear while moving, and it worked like a charm. Today I was unable to use MS while moving, and had to stop to cast it every time. What is going on? Was there some sort of a change to it? I didn't see any recent changes to it in the changelog.

Comment by KeigaElspeth

As of patch 6.1, Mind Sear is now affected by Insanity. Dealing 100% additional damage.